Director's Message

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North Carolina’s mental health system is being renewed, with an emphasis on quality clinical care provided by a professional workforce. This is good news for those who live with, or are at risk for, severe and persistent mental illness. As with any change, there is much work to do.

The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health was established in 2009 to bring the expertise of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to bear on the challenges facing North Carolina’s mental health system. In 2011, XDS Inc., a local non-profit led by Thava Mahadevan, joined the Center, bringing an extensive track record in community-based services. The result is a Center with a very unique and effective best-of-both-worlds approach to the treatment of mental illness, one that combines academic and community experience and know-how.

With the support from the state of North Carolina, The Duke Endowment, and the Reynolds Foundation, we have grown enormously, addressing clear needs in our local community and across the State. Our diverse and talented faculty and staff are active on many fronts, including clinical care, research, education, and policy development.

Center clinics and programs provide a continuum of multidisciplinary, evidence-based preventative and ongoing care for patients with severe mental illness that emphasizes recovery, support for independent living, and integration of medical and psychiatric care.

The Center provides multidisciplinary training for the next generation of mental health professionals, as well as training and technical assistance for providers throughout North Carolina.

Our Center is also building broad collaborations with those we serve, including our patients, their families, providers, state agencies, and advocacy groups. Together, we can build a mental health system that delivers on the promise that quality care provides.

I invite you to explore our website to see who we are, what we are up to, and what we hope to accomplish. All of us at the Center look forward to working with you to improve the lives of people with mental illness in North Carolina.